Automated scaling of application features based on rules

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems and methods for performing operations comprising providing a messaging application comprising a feature to a client device, the feature being implemented by operations having alternative complexity levels, wherein a first complexity level represents a first amount of device resources consumed by a first set of operations, and wherein a second complexity level represents a second amount of device resources consumed by a second set of operations; determining that the first configuration rule is satisfied by a first property of the client device; and in response to determining that the first configuration rule is satisfied by the first property of the client device, causing the feature to be implemented on the client device by the first set of operations having the first complexity level that consume a greater amount of device resources than the second set of operations having the second complexity level.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/387,065, filed Apr. 17, 2019, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to application features inmessaging applications.

BACKGROUND

As consumption of content on mobile devices continues to grow,application developers seek new ways to engage users. Applicationdevelopers constantly release new versions of their applications thathave additional features to keep their users interested. Applicationdevelopers, though, often fail to consider the capabilities of thehardware devices used to run the applications, which can negativelyimpact the new application releases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some embodiments are illustratedby way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored inthe database of a messaging server system, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a messagegenerated by a messaging client application for communication, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example automatic feature scalingsystem, according to example embodiments.

FIGS. 5 and 6 are flowcharts illustrating example operations of theautomatic feature scaling system, according to example embodiments.

FIGS. 7 and 8 are illustrative inputs and outputs of the automaticfeature scaling system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine able toread instructions from a machine-readable medium (e.g., amachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art,that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Typically, application developers release new versions of theirapplications to add, remove, or modify features of their applications.However, in developing new versions of the applications, the applicationdevelopers do not always consider the impact of the features on theunderlying hardware. Specifically, features added to new applicationversions grow in complexity at a faster rate than the hardwarecapabilities of the devices on which the applications run. As a result,when the new versions of the applications are released, the devicesrunning the new versions can often experience severe lag andover-consumption of resources, such as faster battery drain. This notonly negatively impacts how the new version of the application runs onthe device but also negatively impacts other applications that arerunning on the device. This results in a poor user experience andunnecessary waste of resources.

The disclosed embodiments improve the efficiency and functioning ofclient-side electronic devices by automatically and selectively scalinga given application feature based on resources of respective devices,e.g., based on determining whether device resources consumed by thefeature exceed the underlying capabilities of a device. In particular,the feature is dynamically scalable responsive to changes in one or moredevice properties. Specifically, the disclosed embodiments provide amessaging application comprising a feature to a client device. Thefeature of the messaging application has a plurality of selectable oralternative complexity levels. Such complexity levels provide differentfunctionalities for the feature and consume different amounts ofresources. The disclosed embodiments access a first configuration ruleof a plurality of configuration rules that associates a first deviceproperty rule with the feature of the messaging application. Thedisclosed embodiments determine that the first configuration rule issatisfied by a first property of the client device and, in response,cause the feature to operate on the client device at a first complexitylevel of the plurality of selectable complexity levels that is greaterthan a second complexity level of the plurality of selectable complexitylevels.

In this way, features of the messaging application that do not satisfyconfiguration rules associated with the features, thereby indicatingthat the features exceed or unduly tax capabilities of the device,operate at lower complexities or complexities that the device is betterequipped to handle. Such automated scaling of client-side featurecomplexity prevents the need to disable the features in theirentireties, allowing the user to still enjoy the functions of thefeatures in different ways depending on the capabilities of theirdevices. This increases the efficiency of running the messagingapplication on the device without wasting resources or degrading theoverall user experience. In particular, rather than avoiding launchingor running the feature of the messaging application on the device, suchas because it has resource requirements that exceed the capabilities ofthe device, those features with complexity levels whose resourcerequirements or computational loads exceed the capabilities or capacityof the device are scaled down to operate at lower complexity levelswhose resource requirements or computational loads do not exceed thecapabilities or capacity of the device. This allows the messagingapplication to run on the device without overly burdening the memory,bandwidth, and processing resources of the device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network106. The messaging system 100 includes multiple client devices 102, eachof which hosts a number of applications, including a messaging clientapplication 104. Each messaging client application 104 iscommunicatively coupled to other instances of the messaging clientapplication 104 and a messaging server system 108 via the network 106(e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 is able tocommunicate and exchange data with another messaging client application104 and with the messaging server system 108 via the network 106. Thedata exchanged between messaging client applications 104 and between amessaging client application 104 and the messaging server system 108includes functions (e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well aspayload data (e.g., text, audio, video, or other multimedia data).

The messaging client application 104 includes multiple features, one ormore of which are scalable, by which is meant that such a feature isoperable in a plurality of different alternative complexity levels. Forexample, the messaging client application 104 can include a scalablemaps-based graphical user interface (GUI) feature that allows a user tosee where his/her contacts or friends are geographically located in agraphical map-based interface. The messaging client application 104 caninclude a scalable messaging feature allowing a user to exchangemessages with one or more friends. The messaging client application 104can include a scalable games feature allowing a user to play games viathe messaging client application 104 with one or more friends on themessaging client application 104. The messaging client application 104can include a scalable memories feature in which images and videoscaptured by the user using a camera-enabled device running the messagingclient application 104 are stored. The messaging client application 104can include a scalable discover feature allowing the user to access aGUI in which content, such as videos and images, that other users of themessaging client application 104, which are friends or not friends ofthe user, captured, submitted, and posted. The messaging clientapplication 104 can include a scalable friends feed feature which showsa user a chronologically-arranged list of status updates, images,videos, and content generated and associated with the user's friends.The messaging client application 104 can include a scalable imagerecognition feature that processes a real-time or stored video or imageto identify and recognize objects depicted in the video or image.

The messaging client application 104 can include a scalable avatarfeature which allows a user to create an animated avatar representationof the user to be shared with the user's friends and to view avatarrepresentations of the user's friends on the messaging clientapplication 104 in any of the GUIs of the messaging client application104, such as in the map-based GUI. The messaging client application 104can include a scalable lens feature allowing the user to overlaytwo-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) graphical virtual objects(such as filters or geographically-relevant content) onto a scenedepicted in real-time or stored images or videos that are/were capturedby a camera-enabled device running the messaging client application 104.The messaging client application 104 can include a scalable videoencoding or decoding feature allowing a user device to capture and storea video in one or more formats and/or transcode a previously capturedvideo. The messaging client application 104 can include a scalableencryption feature allowing a user to encrypt/decrypt messages orcontent exchanged using the messaging client application 104 with one ormore other users. The messaging client application 104 can include ascalable backup feature which automatically stores copies, on a server,of content the messaging client application 104 captured using thedevice running the messaging client application 104.

Any one or combination of these and other features discussed above andbelow of the messaging client application 104 may be installed andintegrated in the messaging client application 104 to operate at apredetermined complexity level (e.g., the lowest complexity level) whenthe messaging client application 104 is initially downloaded andinstalled on the client device 102. In an embodiment, certain ones ofthe scalable features of the messaging client application 104, eventhough they are installed with the messaging client application 104 onthe client device 102, are set to operate at the lowest complexity levelby default. This means that when the messaging client application 104runs or is launched and executed on the client device 102, the featuresoperate at the lowest complexity level, thereby having minimal resourcerequirements or computational loads that do not exceed the capabilitiesor capacity of the device. In such cases, options to access enhancements(e.g., animations, different sets of graphical elements for overlaying areal-time video feed, and so forth) associated with higher complexitylevels of the features (having greater resource requirements orcomputational loads that may end up exceeding the capabilities orcapacity of the device) are prevented from being displayed or madeavailable in any GUI of the messaging client application 104.

In some implementations, the messaging client application 104 can scaleup the scalable feature that is by default set to operate at a lowcomplexity level. In such cases, after the feature is scaled up, themessaging client application 104 runs the feature at the highercomplexity level and presents an option to a user in a GUI allowing theuser to access the enhancements of the feature. In some embodiments, incases where a particular feature is selected or configured to operate atthe lowest complexity level by default, when any of multipleconfiguration rules that are associated with the particular featurematch or are satisfied by properties of the client device 102 and/or theuser of the client device 102, an automatic feature scaling system 124uses a prioritization or ranking technique to select one of the multipleconfiguration rules to override the default disabled state of theparticular feature.

In some embodiments, the messaging client application 104 is downloadedand installed on the client device 102 only with those features that areset to operate at the lowest alternative or selectable complexity levelby default. When a feature is requested or is needed to be operated at ahigher complexity level at some later point in time, the feature isscaled up to operate at the higher complexity level, such as bydownloading additional operations and functions implementing the highercomplexity level from the server, and integrated into the messagingclient application 104. For example, the messaging client application104 may be downloaded and installed with code for its various featuresto operate at the lowest alternative or selectable complexity level. Atsome later point, a given one of the features of the messagingapplication can be scaled up by downloading code for operating thefeature at the higher complexity level to supplement and/or replace thepreviously installed code for operating the feature at the lowestalternative or selectable complexity level. In alternate embodiments,code for operating the feature at all of the alternative complexitylevels is downloaded and installed with the installation of themessaging client application 104. In such cases, the messaging clientapplication 104 is instructed to select only one of the code segments tooperate the feature at a given alternative complexity level.

Any one or combination of these and other scalable features discussedabove and below of the messaging client application 104 may operate onthe client device 102 at one or more different selectable or alternativecomplexity levels. Each complexity level allows the feature to provide aparticular functionality with certain different enhancements. Forexample, a scalable maps-based GUI feature operating at a firstcomplexity level that is greater than (e.g., being more complex thanand/or consuming greater on-device resource capacities duringimplementation) a second complexity level may provide avatars oranimations associated with various user representations on the GUI.However, when the scalable maps-based GUI feature operates at thesecond, lower complexity level, those same users are represented withtext and not avatars or animations.

As referred to herein, “complexity level” (or level of complexity)represents the relative amount of processing and device resources (e.g.,network bandwidth, processor operations, memory operations, batteryconsumption, and so forth) consumed by a set of operations and functionsthat implement a given function or a feature of the messaging clientapplication 104. The set of operations and functions that implement thegiven function or feature may consume more hardware and softwareresources of the client device 102 or less depending on the complexitylevel. For example, a given client device 102 may have a graphicsaccelerator available that drains the battery of the client device 102very quickly. A feature operating at a high complexity level may includea set of operations and functions that use the graphics accelerator toimplement the functions of the feature (e.g., to provide real-timeenhancements to a video feed). The same feature operating at a lowercomplexity level may include a different set of operations and functionsthat implement the functions of the feature using a general purposeprocessor rather than the hardware accelerator. The same featureoperating at the lower complexity level may thereby consume less of thebattery resource at the cost of lower quality real-time enhancements ofthe video feed than were the feature to operate at the higher complexitylevel. Namely, operating the feature at the high complexity level mayallow the feature to present a first set of graphical elements on areal-time video feed (e.g., that include animation and use gyroscopicand position sensors of the client device 102) and operating the featureat the lower complexity level may allow the feature to present adifferent second set of graphical elements (e.g., that include staticimages and do not rely on gyroscopic and position sensors of the clientdevice 102) on the real-time video feed.

In some embodiments, the messaging client application 104 communicateswith an automatic feature scaling system 124 to identify one or morefeatures of the messaging client application 104 to enable or disableand/or to select the complexity level at which the feature is tooperate. The automatic feature scaling system 124 utilizes a set ofconfiguration rules to identify which features to enable or disableand/or to select the complexity level at which the feature is tooperate. In an embodiment, the automatic feature scaling system 124receives an identifier of the client device 102 on which the messagingclient application 104 is implemented. The automatic feature scalingsystem 124 uses the identifier to retrieve a set of configuration rulesassociated with the client device 102. Specifically, the automaticfeature scaling system 124 can determine one or more properties of theclient device 102, such as a device type, available memory storagespace, current battery level, disk level attributes, operating systemversion, messaging client application 104 version, processor type, orany other hardware capability of the client device 102 using theidentifier. In an embodiment, the automatic feature scaling system 124searches a database to retrieve the set of configuration rulesassociated with the identifier.

In an embodiment, the automatic feature scaling system 124 selects aparticular feature of the messaging client application 104 that isenabled or disabled currently on the messaging client application 104that is running or installed on the client device 102. The automaticfeature scaling system 124 identifies a set of configuration rules orjust one configuration rule that is associated with the particularfeature. In cases where multiple configuration rules are associated withthe particular feature, the automatic feature scaling system 124 uses aprioritization or ranking technique to select only one of the multipleconfiguration rules. Once the configuration rule is selected, theautomatic feature scaling system 124 obtains one or more device propertyrules and/or one or more user information rules specified in theconfiguration rule. For example, the configuration rule can specify aparticular Boolean, scalar, or complex construct expression thatlogically or otherwise combines the one or more device property rulesand/or one or more user information rules. The automatic feature scalingsystem 124 evaluates whether the configuration rule is satisfied (e.g.,the expression of the rule is determined to be TRUE) or not satisfied(e.g., the expression of the rule is determined to be FALSE) usingdevice properties and/or user information of the client device 102.

In some embodiments, the messaging client application 104 communicateswith the automatic feature scaling system 124 to identify and select acomplexity level at which one or more features of the messaging clientapplication 104 will operate. The automatic feature scaling system 124utilizes a set of configuration rules to identify the complexity levelof the features. In an embodiment, the automatic feature scaling system124 receives an identifier of the client device 102 on which themessaging client application 104 is implemented. The automatic featurescaling system 124 uses the identifier to retrieve a set ofconfiguration rules associated with the client device 102. Specifically,the automatic feature scaling system 124 can determine one or moreproperties of the client device 102, such as a device type, availablememory storage space, current battery level, disk level attributes,operating system version, messaging client application 104 version,processor type, or any other hardware capability of the client device102 using the identifier. In an embodiment, the automatic featurescaling system 124 searches a database to retrieve the set ofconfiguration rules associated with the identifier. The automaticfeature scaling system 124 selects a complexity level of multiplecomplexity levels for operating a particular feature of the messagingclient application 104.

In some embodiments, the automatic feature scaling system 124communicates a portion of the configuration rule (e.g., a given portionof the expression of the rule) to be evaluated by the client device 102.In this way, some information that is available only to the clientdevice 102 and is not available to the automatic feature scaling system124 but is included in the configuration rule can be used to determineif the rule is satisfied. Namely, a first portion of the configurationrule can be evaluated by the automatic feature scaling system 124 and asecond portion of the same configuration rule can be evaluated by theclient device 102. The client device 102 can transmit the results of theevaluation of the second portion of the configuration rule to theautomatic feature scaling system 124 to be combined with the results ofthe evaluation of the first portion. For example, the automatic featurescaling system 124 does not have access to information such as theamount of free memory, current battery level, or the currently availablebandwidth of the client device 102 but does have information indicatingthe processor speed and type of the client device 102. Namely, certaininformation about the client device 102 remains physically unchangeableand so can be stored on the automatic feature scaling system 124 foraccess independent of the client device 102. Other informationdynamically changes throughout the life of the device, such as thecurrently available bandwidth or battery level, or current geographicallocation, and so when such information is included in the configurationrule parameters, the client device 102 needs to be involved inevaluating that portion of the configuration rule.

In some embodiments, as part of having the client device 102 evaluate arule, the automatic feature scaling system 124 transmits a benchmarkassociated with the rule that represents functionality of the featureassociated with the rule. The client device 102 can run the benchmark byexecuting code included in the benchmark and provide performance resultsto the automatic feature scaling system 124 of how the client device 102ran the benchmark. The automatic feature scaling system 124 can then usethe performance results to evaluate parameters of the configurationrule. This way, before a feature of the messaging client application 104is enabled on the client device 102 and operates at a particularcomplexity level, the benchmark representing functions of the featurecan be run by the client device 102 to verify that operating the featureat a particular complexity level will run without degrading ornegatively impacting the messaging client application 104 or otherapplications installed and running on the client device 102.Specifically, the benchmark may be designed to consume the same amountand types of processor capabilities and resources of a given device asthe associated complexity level of the feature of the messaging clientapplication 104. This allows the automatic feature scaling system 124 totest whether the processor capabilities and device resources required bythe corresponding complexity level of the feature of the messagingclient application 104 are available on the client device 102 using thebenchmark before causing the particular feature to operate at theparticular complexity level.

In an embodiment, when the automatic feature scaling system 124determines that the configuration rule is not satisfied (e.g., becauseany one or combination of parameters of the expression specified by therule is not met by or do not match the device properties and/or userinformation of the client device 102), the automatic feature scalingsystem 124 scales down the complexity level of the feature to cause thefeature associated with the configuration rule to operate at a lowercomplexity level than the default complexity level. When the automaticfeature scaling system 124 determines that the configuration rule issatisfied (e.g., the combination of parameters of the expressionspecified by the rule are all met by or match the device propertiesand/or user information of the client device 102), the automatic featurescaling system 124 maintains complexity level of the feature associatedwith the configuration rule at the current level and does not scale downthe complexity level of the feature. In some circumstances, theautomatic feature scaling system 124 transmits code segments of theselected complexity level for the particular feature that is selected tothe client device 102 to update the messaging client application 104 andenable the messaging client application 104 to operate the particularfeature at the selected complexity level.

In some embodiments, the configuration rules stored in the databaseaccessible to the automatic feature scaling system 124 are dynamicallyupdated to include new rules or to change or delete previously storedrules. Such updates are performed by providing application developers ordevelopers of the messaging client application 104 with access, via aGUI, to the rules. The application developer can define a newconfiguration rule using the GUI by specifying various parameters suchas a Boolean expression that logically combines one or more deviceproperty rules and/or one or more user information rules and identifiesan action associated with a feature of the particular messaging clientapplication 104 to perform when the parameters of the configuration ruleare satisfied. Such an action can include enabling the feature,disabling the feature, modifying components of the feature, downloadingadditional code associated with the feature, prefetching video contentfor a particular user, scaling a feature up or down, and so forth. Asreferred to herein, scaling a feature up means causing the feature tooperate at a higher complexity level. As referred to herein, scaling afeature down means causing the feature to operate at a lower complexitylevel.

The GUI may also allow the developer to assign a priority or rank to theconfiguration rule, which may be used by the automatic feature scalingsystem 124 when a given feature is associated with multiple matchingconfiguration rules. The GUI may also allow the developer to specify aset of portions of the configuration rule to be evaluated by theautomatic feature scaling system 124 and another set of portions of theconfiguration rule to be evaluated by the client device 102. As referredto herein, evaluating a rule means comparing current data (e.g., currentdevice properties and/or user information) with the combination of thecorresponding rule parameters to determine whether those parametersmatch the current data. Namely, evaluating a rule means determiningwhether an expression of the rule is TRUE or FALSE given the currentdata associated with the rule parameters.

As an example, a configuration rule includes an expression that, whensatisfied, instructs the messaging client application 104 to operate ata high complexity level, which includes operations to prefetch orautomatically download a set of videos or images provided by other usersof the messaging client application 104. Such an expression can includea logical AND operation of a first device property rule (e.g., batterylevel exceeds 70), a second device property rule (e.g., the device ispart of a cluster of devices that is greater than 6), and a logical ORoperation of a third device property rule (e.g., bandwidth of the deviceis greater than 100 Mbps) and a user information rule (e.g., a userconsumes more than 25 videos that were provided by other users per day).As such, in a given circumstance in which a given client device 102 hasa battery level of 80 that exceeds the battery level 70 specified by thefirst device property rule, is part of a device cluster that exceeds 6devices, and has a bandwidth greater than 100 Mbps or is used by a userthat consumes more than 25 videos provided by other users per day, theautomatic feature scaling system 124 scales up the feature of themessaging client application 104 to prefetch or automatically download aset of videos or images provided by other users of the messaging clientapplication 104. If the rule is not satisfied, the automatic featurescaling system 124 scales down the feature of the messaging clientapplication 104 causing the messaging client application 104 to operateat a lower complexity level in which the set of videos or images aredownloaded on-demand, when needed, and/or when specifically requested bythe user. This consumes less bandwidth and processing resources of theclient device 102 but provides, in essence, the same functionality,albeit at a slower pace.

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed either by a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality within either the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity. As another example, the entire functionality or a subset ofthe functionality of the automatic feature scaling system 124 can beincorporated into the messaging client application 104 or othercomponent of the client device 102.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Thisdata may include message content, client device information, geolocationinformation, media annotation and overlays, virtual objects, messagecontent persistence conditions, social network information, and liveevent information, as examples. Data exchanges within the messagingsystem 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available viauser interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, anapplication programming interface (API) server 110 is coupled to, andprovides a programmatic interface to, an application server 112. Theapplication server 112 is communicatively coupled to a database server118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which is stored dataassociated with messages processed by the application server 112.

Dealing specifically with the API server 110, this server 110 receivesand transmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) betweenthe client device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, theAPI server 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines andprotocols) that can be called or queried by the messaging clientapplication 104 in order to invoke functionality of the applicationserver 112. The API server 110 exposes various functions supported bythe application server 112, including account registration; loginfunctionality; the sending of messages, via the application server 112,from a particular messaging client application 104 to another messagingclient application 104; the sending of media files (e.g., images orvideo) from a messaging client application 104 to a messaging serverapplication 114, for possible access by another messaging clientapplication 104; the setting of a collection of media data (e.g.,story); the retrieval of such collections; the retrieval of a list offriends of a user of a client device 102; the retrieval of messages andcontent; the adding and deleting of friends to and from a social graph;the retrieval of one or more features (e.g., executable code segments ofthe one or more features) of the messaging client application 104, suchas features that are selected to operate at a particular selectedcomplexity level on the messaging client application 104; the retrievalof operations and functions for different, higher or lower complexitylevels of one or more features (e.g., executable code segments of thedifferent, higher or lower complexity levels of the one or morefeatures) of the messaging client application 104; the location offriends within a social graph; access to user conversation data; accessto avatar information stored on the messaging server system 108; and theopening of an application event (e.g., relating to the messaging clientapplication 104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including the messaging server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116, a social network system 122, and the automaticfeature scaling system 124. The messaging server application 114implements a number of message processing technologies and functions,particularly related to the aggregation and other processing of content(e.g., textual and multimedia content) included in messages receivedfrom multiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As willbe described in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available, by themessaging server application 114, to the messaging client application104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processing of data may alsobe performed server-side by the messaging server application 114, inview of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes the image processing system116, which is dedicated to performing various image processingoperations, typically with respect to images or video received withinthe payload of a message at the messaging server application 114.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph within the database120. Examples of functions and services supported by the social networksystem 122 include the identification of other users of the messagingsystem 100 with whom a particular user has relationships or whom theparticular user is “following,” and also the identification of otherentities and interests of a particular user. Such other users may bereferred to as the user's friends. The social network system 122 mayaccess location information associated with each of the user's friendsto determine where they live or are currently located geographically.The social network system 122 may maintain a location profile for eachof the user's friends indicating the geographical location where theuser's friends live.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to the databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to the database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram 200 illustrating data, which may be storedin the database 120 of the messaging server system 108, according tocertain example embodiments. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that thedata could be stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as anobject-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table214. An entity table 202 stores entity data, including an entity graph204. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table202 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, and so forth. Regardless of type, any entity regardingwhich the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognizedentity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as anentity type identifier (not shown).

The entity graph 204 furthermore stores information regardingrelationships and associations between entities. Such relationships maybe social, professional (e.g., work at a common corporation ororganization), interest-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

The message table 214 may store a collection of conversations between auser and one or more friends or entities. The message table 214 mayinclude various attributes of each conversation, such as the list ofparticipants, the size of the conversation (e.g., number of users and/ornumber of messages), the chat color of the conversation, a uniqueidentifier for the conversation, and any other conversation-relatedfeature(s).

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form offilters, in an annotation table 212. The database 120 also storesannotated content received in the annotation table 212. Filters forwhich data is stored within the annotation table 212 are associated withand applied to videos (for which data is stored in a video table 210)and/or images (for which data is stored in an image table 208). Filters,in one example, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an imageor video during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be ofvarious types, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filterspresented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 whenthe sending user is composing a message. Other types of filters includegeolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presentedto a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocationfilters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presentedwithin a UI by the messaging client application 104, based ongeolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS)unit of the client device 102. Another type of filter is a data filter,which may be selectively presented to a sending user by the messagingclient application 104, based on other inputs or information gathered bythe client device 102 during the message creation process. Examples ofdata filters include a current temperature at a specific location, acurrent speed at which a sending user is traveling, a battery life for aclient device 102, or the current time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 208 isso-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

Configuration rules 207 stores a set of configuration rules associatedwith different features of the messaging client application 104. In somecases, multiple configuration rules 207 are associated with the samefeature of the messaging client application 104. In some cases, only oneconfiguration rule is associated with a corresponding one of thefeatures of the messaging client application 104. The configurationrules 207 may be indexed by device type, build of the messaging clientapplication 104, version of the messaging client application 104,geographical location, processor type, user attribute, user friends, orany other suitable device property or user information or combination ofinformation. Rules stored in the configuration rules 207 can be accessedby any component in the system and/or by authorized devices or users.Rules can be added, modified, or deleted to/from the configuration rules207 via a GUI presented to an application developer of the messagingclient application 104. In some embodiments, configuration rules storedin the configuration rules 207 are associated with an owner (e.g., acreator of the rule) and, in such cases, the configuration rules 207 canonly be modified or deleted by the associated owner using an owneridentifier.

Certain rules stored in the configuration rules 207 can be selectivelyactivated based on a time of day, device context, or other suitableattribute. Inactive rules are not used in evaluating whether a givendevice satisfies a rule to perform an action for a feature of themessaging client application 104. Such action may include selecting aparticular complexity level for implementing the feature from multiplecomplexity levels.

Benchmarks 209 stores a set of benchmarks associated with differentfeatures of the messaging client application 104. In some cases,multiple benchmarks are associated with the same feature of themessaging client application 104. In some cases, only one benchmark isassociated with a corresponding one of the features of the messagingclient application 104. Each benchmark in benchmarks 209 simulatesvarious processor and device operations performed by the correspondingfeature of the messaging client application 104. In some cases,different benchmarks can be associated with different device types,builds of the messaging client application 104, versions of themessaging client application 104, geographical locations, processortypes, user attributes, user friends, or any other suitable deviceproperty or user information or combination of information. Thebenchmarks 209 stores snippets of code that represent operationsperformed by the complexity level(s) corresponding to the feature of themessaging client application 104. In some cases, the snippets of codeinclude simulations of only the most complex operations performed by thecomplexity level(s) of the feature of the messaging client application104.

Device capabilities 220 stores a list of standard resources, processortypes, memory types, and other suitable device properties of differentdevice models and types. In some cases, each client device 102 of themessaging client application 104 may provide, upon installation of themessaging client application 104, its corresponding standard physicalcapabilities. Such capabilities can be stored and indexed by a deviceidentifier associated with the client device 102. In some embodiments,the device capabilities 220 stores dynamic device properties, such asbattery levels, available storage space, network type, and bandwidth forone or more client devices 102. In such cases, the dynamic deviceproperties for a given device can be updated periodically orcontinuously by polling or requesting such information from the givendevice. In some cases, the device capabilities 220 groups variousdevices and their capabilities into clusters of devices of similar typesby grouping the corresponding identifiers of the devices into the samecluster of devices. In some embodiments, the device capabilities 220organizes and clusters the device capabilities 220 by friends associatedwith the devices such that device capabilities 220 of devices used by agiven collection of friends, as indicated by the entity graph 204, isgrouped together. In some embodiments, the device capabilities 220organizes and clusters the device by geographical region associated withthe devices.

User information 221 stores profiles for various users of the messagingclient application 104. Such information may include how active eachuser is, which features of the messaging client application 104 eachuser frequently uses, user upload history, developer status, whether theuser is a beta tester, how often a given feature of the messaging clientapplication 104 is used by each user, a geographical location associatedwith each user, and any other suitable information or combination ofsuch information. The user information 221 is updated continuously orperiodically as users utilize the messaging client application 104.

As mentioned above, the video table 210 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 214. Similarly, the image table 208 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 202. The entity table 202 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 212 with various images and videosstored in the image table 208 and the video table 210.

A story table 206 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., any user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 202). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the UI of themessaging client application 104 may include an icon that isuser-selectable to enable a sending user to add specific content to hisor her personal story.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom various locations and events. Users whose client devices 102 havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via a UIof the messaging client application 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client application 104 based on his or her location. Theend result is a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 300,according to some embodiments, generated by a messaging clientapplication 104 for communication to a further messaging clientapplication 104 or the messaging server application 114. The content ofa particular message 300 is used to populate the message table 214stored within the database 120, accessible by the messaging serverapplication 114. Similarly, the content of a message 300 is stored inmemory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of the client device 102 orthe application server 112. The message 300 is shown to include thefollowing components:

-   -   A message identifier 302: a unique identifier that identifies        the message 300.    -   A message text payload 304: text, to be generated by a user via        a UI of the client device 102 and that is included in the        message 300.    -   A message image payload 306: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102 or retrieved from memory of a        client device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message video payload 308: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102 and that is included in the message 300.    -   A message audio payload 310: audio data, captured by a        microphone or retrieved from the memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 300.    -   Message annotations 312: annotation data (e.g., filters,        stickers, or other enhancements) that represents annotations to        be applied to the message image payload 306, message video        payload 308, or message audio payload 310 of the message 300.    -   A message duration parameter 314: a parameter value indicating,        in seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        300 (e.g., the message image payload 306, message video payload        308, or message audio payload 310) is to be presented or made        accessible to a user via the messaging client application 104.    -   A message geolocation parameter 316: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message 300. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 316 values may be included in the payload, with each        of these parameter values being associated with content items        included in the content (e.g., a specific image within the        message image payload 306, or a specific video in the message        video payload 308).    -   A message story identifier 318: an identifier value identifying        one or more content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a        particular content item in the message image payload 306 of the        message 300 is associated. For example, multiple images within        the message image payload 306 may each be associated with        multiple content collections using identifier values.    -   A message tag 320: each message 300 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 306        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 320 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        using image recognition.    -   A message sender identifier 322: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 102 on        which the message 300 was generated and from which the message        300 was sent.    -   A message receiver identifier 324: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of one or more users of the client        device(s) 102 to which the message 300 is addressed. In the case        of a conversation between multiple users, the identifier may        indicate each user involved in the conversation.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of the message 300may be pointers to locations in tables within which content data valuesare stored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 306may be a pointer to (or address of) a location within the image table208. Similarly, values within the message video payload 308 may point todata stored within the video table 210, values stored within the messageannotations 312 may point to data stored in the annotation table 212,values stored within the message story identifier 318 may point to datastored in the story table 206, and values stored within the messagesender identifier 322 and the message receiver identifier 324 may pointto user records stored within the entity table 202.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example automatic feature scalingsystem 124, according to example embodiments. The automatic featurescaling system 124 includes a feature selection module 411, aconfiguration rule selection module 419, a configuration rule evaluationmodule 416, a user information module 414, a device properties module412, and a feature action module 418.

Feature selection module 411 communicates with a messaging clientapplication 104 implemented on a given client device 102 to identify afeature of the messaging client application 104 to analyze. The featurecan be a feature that is currently selected to operate at a lowcomplexity level. In an embodiment, the feature selection module 411cycles through a predetermined list of features over time to verify thatthe feature should be scaled up/down and change the selected complexitylevel of the feature if a given configuration rule is satisfiedindicating a state change is needed. In this way, the feature isdynamically scalable responsive to changes in one or more deviceproperties. As discussed herein, operating a feature at a givencomplexity level means executing a set of instructions having the givencomplexity level to implement the feature. For example, operating afeature at a first complexity level means executing a first set ofinstructions having the first complexity level to implement the featureand operating the same feature at a second complexity level meansexecuting a second set of instructions having the second complexitylevel to implement the feature.

The feature selection module 411 may access user information 221 toinfer user behavior and interest in having a particular feature of themessaging client application 104 scaled up to operate at a highercomplexity level. For example, the user information 221 may indicatethat the user has recently started using the camera of thecamera-enabled device on which the messaging client application 104 isimplemented to capture and share videos. The feature selection module411 may also determine that the lens feature (e.g., a feature thatutilizes object recognition and allows a user to insert 2D or 3Dgraphical objects) is currently set to operate at a low complexity levelon the device and is a feature that is popular among the user's friendsor a set of users who frequently share videos. The feature selectionmodule 411 may, in response, communicate the selected feature to theconfiguration rule selection module 419 to determine whether to scale upthe feature. Similarly, the feature selection module 411 may determinethat the lens feature is currently scaled up and operating at a highcomplexity level but that the user of the device has not captured videousing the camera-enabled device in more than a threshold period of time.In response, feature selection module 411 may communicate the selectedfeature to the configuration rule selection module 419 to determinewhether to scale down the feature or perform an action associated withthe feature.

As another example, the feature selection module 411 may determine thata geographical location of the user of the messaging client application104 has changed. In response, the feature selection module 411 mayidentify a set of features that are location dependent and provide oneor more of the identified features to the configuration rule selectionmodule 419 to determine whether an action should be performed for suchfeatures. As another example, the feature selection module 411 receivesa version identifier or client device 102 identifier and retrieves a setof features that are operating at a low complexity level on the clientdevice 102. The feature selection module 411 provides the retrieved setof features to the configuration rule selection module 419 for analysisas to whether to scale up the features. Similarly, the feature selectionmodule 411 receives a version identifier or client device 102 identifierand retrieves a set of features that are currently set to operate at ahigh complexity level on the client device 102. The selection module 411provides the retrieved set of features to the configuration ruleselection module 419 for analysis as to whether to scale down thefeatures.

Configuration rule selection module 419 retrieves one or moreconfiguration rules from configuration rules 207 that are associatedwith the features received from the feature selection module 411. Theconfiguration rule selection module 419 determines which configurationrules, that are associated with the feature, are active and associatedwith the device identifier and/or user identifier. The configurationrule selection module 419 determines whether multiple such configurationrules match and are associated with the selected feature. In response,the configuration rule selection module 419 retrieves a rank associatedwith each rule and selects the configuration rule with the highest rank.Alternatively, or in addition, the configuration rule selection module419 analyzes a Boolean tree associated with the expression of eachconfiguration rule. Specifically, the configuration rule selectionmodule 419 compares the expressions of each configuration rule that isassociated with the same feature and selects the configuration rule withthe longest expression.

The configuration rule selection module 419 provides the selectedconfiguration rule to the configuration rule evaluation module 416. Theconfiguration rule evaluation module 416 analyzes the expressioncontained in the selected rule to determine which parameters need to beevaluated. For example, the configuration rule evaluation module 416identifies one or more device property rules contained in the expressionand/or user information rules contained in the expression. Theconfiguration rule evaluation module 416 also determines whether therule specifies a particular portion of the expression that needs to beevaluated by the client device 102. The configuration rule evaluationmodule 416 communicates with the user information module 414 to obtainuser information 221 corresponding to the user information rule and/orwith the device properties module 412 to obtain device propertiescorresponding to the device properties rules contained in theexpression.

As an example, the configuration rule includes a first device propertyrule (e.g., a bandwidth greater than 1 Mbps) and a second deviceproperty rule (e.g., a minimum version of the messaging clientapplication 104). As a result, the configuration rule evaluation module416 communicates with the device properties module 412, and provides theclient device 102 identifier to the device properties module 412, toobtain the first device property (e.g., the current bandwidth of theclient device 102) and the second device property (e.g., the currentversion of the messaging client application 104 installed on the clientdevice 102) associated with the first and second device property rules.The device properties module 412 accesses the device capabilities 220 toretrieve the corresponding first and second device properties associatedwith the identifier of the client device 102. If the device capabilities220 only has the first property and not the second property, the deviceproperties module 412 communicates directly with the client device 102to obtain the current value of the second property.

The configuration rule may also include a first user information rule(e.g., a beta user attribute) and a second user information rule (e.g.,accesses or consumes more than 25 videos from other users per day). As aresult, the configuration rule evaluation module 416 provides the useridentifier to the user information module 414 to obtain the first userinformation (e.g., the status of the user, such as whether the user is abeta user) and the second user information (e.g., the number of videosfrom other users the user consumes per day). The user information module414 retrieves the first and second user information from userinformation 221 and returns the information to the configuration ruleevaluation module 416.

In some implementations, the configuration rule evaluation module 416sends a portion of the expression to the client device 102 for theclient device 102 to evaluate the portion of the expression. Forexample, the portion of the expression may specify that a particularbenchmark result has to exceed a given minimum threshold performance. Asa result, the configuration rule evaluation module 416 transmits theportion of the expression including the benchmark, retrieved frombenchmarks 209, to the client device 102 with an instruction for theclient device 102 to run the benchmark. The client device 102, afterrunning the benchmark, may determine whether the performance exceeds thethreshold indicated in the portion of the expression and provide thisevaluation to the configuration rule evaluation module 416. In someimplementations, the configuration rule evaluation module 416 only sendsthe portion of the expression to the client device 102 after verifyingthat another portion of the expression, evaluated at the server, issatisfied. Namely, the configuration rule evaluation module 416evaluates the portions of the expression with the currently availableinformation on the server and if those portions are satisfied, aremaining set of portions of the expression are sent to the clientdevice 102 for evaluation.

In some embodiments, the configuration rule evaluation module 416 sendsan instruction to the client device 102 to re-evaluate the expression ata later point in time if the expression is currently satisfied. If theexpression is later no longer satisfied, the client device 102 mayautomatically scale down the feature or perform an action associatedwith the feature.

After the configuration rule evaluation module 416 obtains all of theparameters for the expression (e.g., all of the needed device propertiesand/or user information 221), the configuration rule evaluation module416 determines whether the Boolean expression is satisfied. Namely, theconfiguration rule evaluation module 416 determines whether all or someof the received information matches the specified rules or Booleancombination of the rules.

In response to determining that the expression is satisfied, theconfiguration rule evaluation module 416 instructs the feature actionmodule 418 to perform the action associated with the rule (e.g., scalethe feature up, scale the feature down, enable the feature, disable thefeature, or modify the feature). The feature action module 418 retrievesthe action specified for the configuration rule from the configurationrules 207 and then executes the corresponding action. For example, thefeature action module 418 transmits code for implementing the selectedcomplexity level of the feature to the client device 102 to install andimplement the operations and functions associated with the selectedcomplexity level of the feature into the messaging client application104. Alternatively, the feature action module 418 sends a message 300 tothe messaging client application 104 with instructions to scale up thefeature that is currently installed but operating at a low complexitylevel on the messaging client application 104. Alternatively, thefeature action module 418 sends a message 300 to the messaging clientapplication 104 with instructions to scale down the feature that iscurrently installed and operating at a high complexity level on themessaging client application 104.

As one example, a first feature that the feature selection module 411selects includes object recognition (e.g., facial recognition thatanalyzes facial features of a face in an image) of an image stored onthe client device 102. The object recognition feature may have multiplecomplexity levels, where a low complexity level utilizes a first object(facial) recognition process to implement the object recognitionfunction and a high complexity level utilizes a second object (facial)recognition process to implement the object recognition function. Theconfiguration rule selected by the configuration rule selection module419 associates a plurality of device property rules including first,second, and third device property rules with the first feature. In suchcircumstances, a current battery level and current amount of availablestorage is received by the device properties module 412 from the clientdevice 102. The configuration rule evaluation module 416 on the serverdetermines that processing capabilities of the client device 102 exceedthreshold processing capabilities indicated by the first device propertyrule, the current battery level exceeds a minimum battery levelindicated by the second device property rule, and the current amount ofavailable storage exceeds a minimum available storage amount indicatedby the third device property rule. Prior to scaling up the first featureon the client device 102, the server instructs the client device 102 todetermine whether an updated battery level of the client device 102exceeds the minimum battery level indicated by the second deviceproperty rule and that an updated amount of available storage of theclient device 102 exceeds the minimum available storage amount indicatedby the third device property rule.

This way, even though a given rule is satisfied when evaluated based ona first set of device properties received by the server, the clientdevice 102 can double check at some later point in time that after thefeature associated with the given rule is scaled up, the given rule isstill satisfied. Namely, the time between when the server evaluates therule and when the client is instructed to scale up the feature may belarge enough such that the battery level on the client device 102 dropsbelow an allowable minimum. To ensure that the battery level is stillabove the allowable minimum after the time has passed since the serverevaluated the rule, the client device 102 can test and evaluate thecurrent battery level against the rule prior to scaling up the featureand/or while the feature is operating at a low complexity level todetermine whether to scale up the feature.

As another example, a second feature that the feature selection module411 selects includes image backup functionality for the client device102. The configuration rule selected by the configuration rule selectionmodule 419 may specify upload stability data and transcoding successparameters with scaling up the image backup functionality. Theconfiguration rule evaluation module 416 retrieves informationindicating upload stability data for the client device 102 and atranscoding failure rate of the client device 102 from the deviceproperties module 412. The configuration rule evaluation module 416determines whether the upload stability data exceeds a stabilitythreshold indicated by the rule and that the transcoding failure rateexceeds a transcoding failure rate threshold indicated by the rule. Inresponse to determining that the upload stability data exceeds thestability threshold and that the transcoding failure rate exceeds thetranscoding failure rate threshold, the configuration rule evaluationmodule 416 scales up the image backup functionality for the clientdevice 102 to backup images captured by the client device 102 inreal-time rather than periodically (as when the feature is in a scaleddown state), such as by instructing the feature action module 418 toscale up this feature on the client device 102.

As another example, a third feature that the feature selection module411 selects includes a graphical eraser operation that enables a user toerase portions of an image captured by the client device 102. Theconfiguration rule selected by the configuration rule selection module419 may specify minimum performance capabilities a client device 102needs to operate the graphical eraser operation feature at a highcomplexity level. The configuration rule evaluation module 416 retrievesinformation indicating a performance metric of the graphical eraseroperation by executing a benchmark on the client device 102 representingoperations performed by the graphical eraser operation operating at thehigh complexity level or retrieving a performance metric indicating howthe benchmark performed on devices similar to the client device 102 inthe past. The configuration rule evaluation module 416 determines thatthe performance metric exceeds a minimum performance threshold indicatedby the first device property rule. In response to determining that theperformance metric exceeds the minimum performance threshold indicatedby the first device property rule, the configuration rule evaluationmodule 416 scales up the graphical eraser operation for the client.

As another example, a fourth feature that the feature selection module411 selects includes a lens creation or complex lens operation (e.g.,creation of a graphical element that is added to a captured image orcomplex operations associated with such a graphical element, such asanimation, scaling, pixelation, and so forth) that enables a user to addgraphical elements to images captured by the client device 102. Theconfiguration rule selected by the configuration rule selection module419 may specify minimum performance capabilities a client device 102needs to operate the lens creation or complex lens operation features ata high complexity level (which provides a different set of graphicalelements that are animated and utilize gyroscopic and position sensorsof the client device 102 than a low complexity level).

The configuration rule evaluation module 416 retrieves informationindicating a performance metric of the lens creation or complex lensoperations by executing a benchmark on the client device 102representing operations performed by the lens creation or complex lensoperations or retrieving a performance metric indicating how thebenchmark performed on devices similar to the client device 102 in thepast. The configuration rule evaluation module 416 determines that theperformance metric exceeds a minimum performance threshold indicated bythe first device property rule. In response to determining that theperformance metric exceeds the minimum performance threshold indicatedby the first device property rule, the configuration rule evaluationmodule 416 scales up the lens creation or complex lens operations forthe client. Namely, the lens creation operations, operating at thescaled up state implementing a high complexity level feature, allow auser to choose enhanced graphical elements that are animated and utilizegyroscopic and position sensors of the client device 102. The lenscreation operations, operating at the scaled down state implementing alow complexity level feature, allow a user to choose static graphicalelements that do not utilize gyroscopic and position sensors of theclient device 102.

In some embodiments, the complexity level for implementing the lensfeature may be selected based on whether the client device 102 includesa frame fetch buffer capability. Such capability may be a rule in theconfiguration rule that is evaluated against device properties of theclient device 102. For example, if the client device 102 includes framefetch buffer capability, the lens feature may be selected to operate ata high complexity level. If the client device 102 does not include framefetch buffer capability, the lens feature may be selected to operate ata low complexity level.

In some embodiments, the complexity level for implementing encryption ofmessages and content on the client device may be selected based whethera configuration rule is satisfied. If the configuration rule issatisfied, a first encryption process for encrypting messaging may beselected to operate at a high complexity level. If the configurationrule is not satisfied, a second encryption process, that is less securethan the first encryption process, for encrypting messaging may beselected to operate at a low complexity level.

In some embodiments, the complexity level for the messaging clientapplication 104 capturing images using a camera on the client device maybe selected based on whether a configuration rule is satisfied. If theconfiguration rule is satisfied, the camera functionality of themessaging client application 104 may be selected to operate at a highcomplexity level to capture high resolution images. If the configurationrule is not satisfied, the camera functionality of the messaging clientapplication 104 may be selected to operate at a low complexity level tocapture low resolution images.

In some embodiments, the feature selection module 411 selects, as thecomplexity level of the feature, an upload size for the client device102 that controls how large a given video or image can be that isuploaded by the client device 102. A first complexity level of thefeature may correspond to enabling a 4 megabyte upload video or imagefile, a second complexity level of the feature may correspond toenabling a 5 megabyte upload video or image file, and a third complexitylevel of the feature may correspond to enabling a 2 megabyte uploadvideo or image file. Each of the first, second, and third complexitylevels of the feature may be associated with a different configurationrule. The configuration rule selection module 419 may determine whetherthe first complexity level of the feature is associated with aconfiguration rule that is satisfied before evaluating the second andthird complexity levels of the feature.

In an embodiment, the first complexity level of the feature isassociated with a first configuration rule that includes the followingBoolean expression (application version is greater than 10 AND bandwidthavailable to the client device 102 is greater than 1 Mbps AND (the useris a professional user OR the messaging application installed on theclient device 102 is beta build)). If the configuration rule evaluationmodule 416 determines that this Boolean expression of the firstconfiguration rule is satisfied, the feature action module 418 isinstructed to select the first complexity level of a feature toimplement the feature on the client device 102. In an embodiment, thesecond complexity level of the feature is associated with a secondconfiguration rule that includes the following Boolean expression(application version is greater than 10 AND user is an applicationdeveloper of the messaging client application 104 AND bandwidthavailable to the client device 102 is greater than 2 Mbps). If theconfiguration rule evaluation module 416 determines that this Booleanexpression of the second configuration rule is satisfied, the featureaction module 418 is instructed to select the second complexity levelfor the feature to implement the feature on the client device 102. In anembodiment, the third complexity level of the feature is associated witha third configuration rule that includes the following Booleanexpression (application version is greater than 7 AND the user islocated in a specified country, such as Brazil AND bandwidth availableto the client device 102 is less than 512 kbps). If the configurationrule evaluation module 416 determines that this Boolean expression ofthe third configuration rule is satisfied, the feature action module 418is instructed to select the third complexity level for implementing thefeature on the client device 102.

In some embodiments, the feature selection module 411 selects acomplexity level for implementing the feature based on what is commonlyselected as the complexity level for the feature among a group ofdevices that are associated with a collection of friends. For example,if a majority of friends in a given group have a given feature scaleddown that allows video decoding or transcoding using a first decoding ortranscoding technique, other users in the same group of friends may alsohave the same feature scaled down. The other users may have capabilitiesthat allow a second feature to be enabled that allows for video decodingor transcoding using a second decoding or transcoding technique, whereinthe second decoding or transcoding technique is more complex than thefirst decoding or transcoding technique. But because the majority ofusers in the group have the given feature scaled down, the featureselection module 411 selects the lower complexity level for implementingthe given feature rather than the higher complexity level forimplementing the feature on the client devices 102 of the other users.In this way, all the users in the particular group are able to sharemedia with each other in the same format that each of the users canprocess.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the automaticfeature scaling system 124 in performing a process 500, according toexample embodiments. The process 500 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 500 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the messaging server system 108and/or messaging client application 104; accordingly, the process 500 isdescribed below by way of example with reference thereto. However, inother embodiments, at least some of the operations of the process 500may be deployed on various other hardware configurations. The process500 is therefore not intended to be limited to the messaging serversystem 108 and can be implemented in whole, or in part, by any othercomponent. Some or all of the operations of the process 500 can be inparallel, out of order, or entirely omitted.

At operation 501, the automatic feature scaling system 124 selects amessaging application feature. For example, the feature selection module411 selects a given feature of the messaging client application 104 tobe scaled up or scaled down.

At operation 502, the automatic feature scaling system 124 accesses aconfiguration rule that includes a configuration rule expressionassociated with the messaging application feature. For example, theconfiguration rule selection module 419 retrieves one or moreconfiguration rules that are associated with the selected featureprovided by the feature selection module 411.

At operation 503, the automatic feature scaling system 124 evaluates afirst portion of the expression on a server. For example, theconfiguration rule evaluation module 416 obtains data for one or moreparameters of the configuration rule expression from the userinformation module 414 and/or device properties module 412 anddetermines whether a Boolean expression in the configuration rule issatisfied.

At operation 504, the automatic feature scaling system 124 determines ifthe first portion of the expression is satisfied. In response todetermining that the first portion of the expression is satisfied, theprocess continues to operation 505; otherwise the process continues tooperation 501.

At operation 505, the automatic feature scaling system 124 transmits asecond portion of the expression to a client device 102. For example,the configuration rule evaluation module 416 identifies a portion of theconfiguration rule that needs to be evaluated on the client device 102,such as a benchmark that needs to be run on the client device 102 todetermine the performance of the benchmark or the currently availablebandwidth, battery level, or storage space on the client device 102.

At operation 506, the automatic feature scaling system 124 evaluates thesecond portion of the expression on the client device 102. For example,the configuration rule evaluation module 416 instructs the client device102 to evaluate the portion of the rule and transmit an indication ofwhether the portion of the rule (e.g., the Boolean expression portion)matches the data obtained on the client device 102 and evaluates to beTRUE or FALSE.

At operation 507, the automatic feature scaling system 124 determines ifthe second portion of the expression is satisfied. In response todetermining that the second portion of the expression is satisfied, theprocess continues to operation 508; otherwise the process continues tooperation 501. For example, if the second portion is not satisfied, thefeature action module 418 causes the feature of the messaging clientapplication 104 to operate on the client device at a second complexitylevel of a plurality of selectable complexity levels that is lower thana first complexity level of the plurality of selectable complexitylevels.

At operation 508, the automatic feature scaling system 124 performs anaction associated with the messaging application feature. For example,the feature action module 418 scales down the feature of the messagingclient application 104 on the client device 102 to operate at a lowercomplexity level, such as by sending code segments for implementing andexecuting the selected complexity level of the feature on the clientdevice 102. As another example, the feature action module 418 scales upthe feature and causes the feature of the messaging client application104 to operate on the client device at the first complexity level thatis greater than the second complexity level.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the automaticfeature scaling system 124 in performing a process 600, according toexample embodiments. The process 600 may be embodied incomputer-readable instructions for execution by one or more processorssuch that the operations of the process 600 may be performed in part orin whole by the functional components of the messaging server system 108and/or messaging client application 104; accordingly, the process 600 isdescribed below by way of example with reference thereto. However, inother embodiments, at least some of the operations of the process 600may be deployed on various other hardware configurations. The process600 is therefore not intended to be limited to the messaging serversystem 108 and can be implemented in whole, or in part, by any othercomponent. Some or all of the operations of the process 600 can be inparallel, out of order, or entirely omitted.

At operation 601, the automatic feature scaling system 124 provides amessaging application comprising a feature to a client device, thefeature being implemented by one or more operations having a pluralityof alternative complexity levels, wherein a first complexity level ofthe plurality of alternative complexity levels represents a first amountof device resources consumed by a first set of the one or moreoperations that implement the feature, and wherein a second complexitylevel of the plurality of alternative complexity levels represents asecond amount of device resources consumed by a second set of the one ormore operations that implement the feature.

At operation 602, the automatic feature scaling system 124 accesses afirst configuration rule of a plurality of configuration rules thatassociates a first device property rule with the feature of themessaging application.

At operation 603, the automatic feature scaling system 124 determinesthat the first configuration rule is satisfied by a first property ofthe client device.

At operation 604, the automatic feature scaling system 124, in responseto determining that the first configuration rule is satisfied by thefirst property of the client device, causes the feature to beimplemented on the client device by the first set of the one or moreoperations having the first complexity level that consume a greateramount of device resources than the second set of the one or moreoperations having the second complexity level.

FIGS. 7 and 8 show illustrative inputs and outputs of the automaticfeature scaling system 124, according to example embodiments. The inputsand outputs shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 can be implemented by the messagingclient application 104. FIG. 7 shows an example embodiment of amap-based GUI feature of the messaging client application 104, furtherreferred to as a map GUI 612, displayed on a user device in the exampleform of a mobile phone. In this example embodiment, the map GUI 612 isgenerated on a display in the form of a touchscreen 606 capable ofreceiving haptic input. The map GUI 612 includes a map 618 showing anaerial or satellite representation of a particular geographical area.The map 618 is displayed within a map viewport 621 which, in thisexample embodiment, uses the full available area of the touchscreen 606.In other example embodiments, the map viewport 621 may be a boundedpanel or window within a larger display screen. The map GUI 612 furthercomprises a plurality of user-selectable GUI elements displayed atspecific respective geographic locations on the map. Each suchgeo-anchored GUI element is, in this example embodiment, represented bya respective indicium or icon overlaid on the map 618. The differenttypes of icons and their respective functionalities will be described ingreater detail below. Each functionality may have a different level ofcomplexity and/or each group of one or more functionalities may havedifferent levels of complexity. As will also be described briefly, themap GUI 612 may further include one or more informational overlaysrendered over the underlying geographical map 618, with theinformational overlay in this example embodiment including a heatmap 625representative of the geographical distribution of underlying socialmedia activity on the social media platform provided by the relevantsocial media application. In this example embodiment, the social mediaplatform to which the social media client application 104 executing onthe mobile phone 102 provides access is SnapChat™ provided by Snap Inc.

As mentioned, the map GUI 612 includes a number of differentuser-selectable icons or UI elements that indicate differentgeographically-based content or information. These icons can include theglobal event avatar discussed below in connection with FIG. 7. In thisexample embodiment, the map GUI 612 includes a plurality of differentgallery icons (also referred to in this description as story icons).Each story icon corresponds in location on the map 618 to a respectivelocation-based social media gallery; in this example embodiment, theicons correspond to a location-based story of ephemeral messages in theexample form of so-called snaps, as discussed elsewhere herein. Each ofthese stories that are represented by a respective story icon on the map618 consists of a respective set of snaps (respectively comprisingaugmented or unaugmented photographic or video content) that are groupedtogether based at least in part on respective geo-tag data associatedwith respective snaps.

In the example embodiment of FIG. 7, the map GUI 612 includes twodifferent types of gallery icons for two different respective types oflocation-based social media galleries: place icons 631 for placegalleries/stories and spike icons 633 for spike galleries/stories thatare dynamically surfaced on the map GUI 612 based on one or more metricsof underlying social media activity relating to the submission of socialmedia items/snaps to the social media platform with geo-tag dataindicating the respectively associated geographical areas. The map GUI612 in this example embodiment further includes friend icons in theexample form of bitmojis 640 (or friend avatars) that are displayed onthe map GUI 612 based on the current or last known geographic locationof respective friends of the user associated with the client device 102.

In this example embodiment, the social media items that are selectivelyplayable by selection of the corresponding story icons 631, 633 in themap GUI 612 are ephemeral social media items or messages. Ephemeralcontent is social media content (e.g., augmented and/or unaugmentedvideo clips, pictures, and/or other messages) that is available forviewing by social media users via the map GUI 612 for only apredetermined limited period (also referred to herein as a respectivegallery participation parameter or timer). After expiry of a respectivegallery participation parameter or timer for any ephemeral message orsnap uploaded by a particular user, that ephemeral message or snap is nolonger available for viewing by other users via the map GUI 612generated on their respective client devices 103 (such as mobile phone102). Current examples of such ephemeral social media content includethe respective snaps or messages included in so-called Stories in theSNAPCHAT or the INSTAGRAM social media applications.

Instead of, or in addition to, management of ephemerality on a per-snaplevel using respective gallery participation timers, availability of theephemeral messages by the map GUI 612 can, in some instances, be managedcollectively (e.g., on a per-story level). In such instances, each storyor gallery can have a respective story duration parameter, at the expiryof which availability of the corresponding story for viewing via map GUI612 is terminated. In some embodiments, the story duration parameter iscalculated based on the story participation parameter of one of theephemeral messages included in the relevant story. For example, a storymay, in some embodiments, expire when a last uploaded item within thestory expires, responsive to which the corresponding story icon 631/633is no longer displayed on the map GUI 612. In one example embodiment,the map GUI 612 may include one or more event icons corresponding torespective event stories, with the story duration parameter of the eventstory being set to expire a predetermined period of time from a start orconclusion of the underlying event. At expiry of the story durationparameter, the corresponding gallery icon is removed from the map GUI612, irrespective of individual timers associated with respective snapsincluded in the event story.

The user can select any one of the gallery icons 631, 633 by hapticcontact with the touchscreen 606 at the onscreen location of theselected gallery icon 631, 633. Responsive to such selection, automatedsequential playback of the corresponding set of ephemeral messages orsnaps in the selected story is performed by the mobile phone 102 on thetouchscreen 606. In an embodiment, the set of ephemeral messages orsnaps in the selected story that are sequentially played back includeany content. Such automated sequential reproduction of the selectedstory consists of:

-   -   displaying on the touchscreen 606 the content or media payload        of a first one of the ephemeral messages for a corresponding        display duration (e.g., a default value of five seconds for        photo-based messages and a maximum value of 10 seconds for        video-based snaps), which, in this example embodiment,        temporarily replaces the map GUI 612 on the touchscreen 606 with        a full-screen replay of the relevant snap;    -   at expiry of the display duration, ceasing display of the        content of the first of the ephemeral messages, and then        displaying the content of the next snap/message for its        respective display duration; and    -   progressing in sequence through all of the ephemeral messages in        the selected story until all of the snaps in the story have been        replayed or until the user selectively dismisses the playback        sequence.

In some embodiments, not all of the snaps in a particular story/galleryare necessarily included in the replay sequence. For example, if thereare many overlapping snaps (e.g., snaps showing substantially identicalcontent), some of those snaps are automatically skipped to keep acontinuous narrative and not repeat some sections of an event commonlycaptured by the different snaps. Instead, or in addition, the messagingserver application 114 can, in some embodiments, be programmed toautomatically identify and curate overlapping or contemporaneous snapsbased on timestamp information associated with respective snaps.

In this example embodiment, the snaps automatically collected togetherin a replayable spike story or place story are arranged automatically tobe played back in chronological order based on respective timestamps(i.e., being played in sequence from oldest to newest or earliest postedto most recently posted). A benefit of such chronological playback isthat viewing of the story provides a user with sequentially arrangedviews of events transpiring at the relevant location. In some instances,however, a human curator may choose to rearrange snaps out ofchronological order (for example, to improve the narrative flow of thestory). In other embodiments, the snaps may be played in reversechronological order, from newest to oldest.

It can thus be seen that the example map GUI 612 includes multiplelocation-based gallery icons in the example form of story icons 631, 633that are user-selectable to trigger playback of respective collectionsof ephemeral social media items, in this example embodiment beingrespective ephemeral stories consisting of respective sets of ephemeralmessages (also referred to in this description as snaps). In thisexample embodiment, each of the plurality of location-based storiesrepresented by the respective story icons 631, 633 may comprise mediacontent contributed by multiple different users.

The respective ephemeral stories are, in this example embodiment,compiled from ephemeral messages submitted by multiple users based atleast in part on geo-tagging of the respective snaps. Note that theephemeral messages made available for viewing via the map GUI 612 are,in this example embodiment, not limited to content provided by otherusers who are members of an in-application social network of the user onwhose mobile phone 102 the map GUI 612 is generated. Instead, the socialmedia content to which the map GUI 612 allows access is, in this exampleembodiment, provided by snaps uploaded or submitted by any user to bepublicly accessible via the map GUI 612.

One aspect of the example map GUI 612 provides for the functionality forusers to submit social media content that is publicly viewable via themap GUI 612. In this example embodiment, snaps can be captured via themap GUI 612 while the map viewport 621 is displayed (as seen in FIG. 7)by operation of a camera soft button 650 (FIG. 7) forming part of themap GUI 612. After capturing of photo or video content by operation ofthe camera soft button 650, the captured media content is displayed onthe touchscreen 606. In this example embodiment, the user can select oneor both destination options as “My Story” and “Our Story.” By selectingOur Story and thereafter selecting a “Send” soft button, the snap issubmitted over the network 106 to the application server 112 with anindication that the snap is available for non-private publication viathe map GUI 612. If the snap is not so marked by the user (if, forexample, only the My Story radio button is selected), then the snap isnot available for inclusion in any of the stories associated with thestory icons 631, 633 and is not available for inclusion in searchresults of a location-based search via the map GUI 612, as describedlater herein. Snaps included only in the My Story gallery are availableonly to friends of the user (e.g., members of the uploading user'ssocial network). The My Story gallery is a per-user, location-agnosticgallery of ephemeral messages available to friend users only and is thusa non-public, private gallery.

In other example embodiments described herein, the superset of ephemeralmessages made available by multiple users for public viewing via the mapGUI 612 is alternatively referred to as the “Live Story” or simply as a“Live” gallery. For the purposes of the description of exampleembodiments herein, Live and Our Story are thus to be read as beingsynonymous. In the present example embodiment, the compilation and/orsurfacing of gallery icons 631, 633, and the rendering of the heatmap625 are based exclusively on publicly available social media contentprovided by snaps uploaded to Our Story. Calculation of metrics orattributes of social media activity upon which one or more aspects ofthe map GUI 612 are based (e.g., an unusualness or anomaly metricindicating geo-temporal unusualness or anomaly of social media activitywithin respective geographical areas) is, in this example embodiment,likewise based exclusively on snaps uploaded to Our Story.

In addition to viewing clustered stories by selection of the story icons631, 633, the user can access snaps by use of one or more searchfunctionalities provided by the map GUI 612. In this example embodiment,the map GUI 612 provides two separate search mechanisms: a search box665 (FIG. 7) and a location-based search by clicking or tapping at atarget location on the map 618.

Responsive to entry of a text search query in the search box 665, searchresults are, in this example embodiment, displayed in a search boxdrop-down in which individual cells correspond to individual snaps,stories, places, and/or users returned in the search. When the userclicks on a selected cell in the search box drop-down, the map GUI 612in this example automatically navigates with a fly-over to the point onthe map, after which the selected story or spike cluster starts playingor a friend bubble pops up. In some embodiments, at least some aspectsof the text-based query are limited to the geographical area currentlydisplayed in the map viewport 621. Instead, or in addition, some aspectsof the text-based query may be location-agnostic, returning searchresults from any location.

As an alternative to entering a text-based search query, the user caninitiate a location-based search by clicking or tapping on a particularlocation on the map viewport 621, responsive to which a search isconducted for social media items within a predefined radius from theclick or tap location. In this example embodiment, such a location-basedsearch does not return a list of GUI elements that are selectable toplay respective items, but instead automatically triggers automatedsequential replay returned as a result of the search. Thus, clicking ortapping on a non-thumbnail place on the map 618 will radiate out asearch around the tap location. Such a location-based search can have apredefined search radius from the tap location. If any snaps are found,they are automatically played back in sequence, as described before. Ifthere are no snaps in that area, the search bounces back to show noresults found.

In embodiments in which the map GUI 612 is displayed on a touchscreen606, a geo-temporal search is triggered by haptic contact at aparticular location within the map 618, with the search beinggeographically centered on the location of the haptic contact. An inputinterval indicated by the time period for which the haptic contact ismaintained with the touchscreen automatically determines the precedingtime period with respect to which the search is carried out. In such acase, for example, a tap on the screen triggers a geo-temporal searchfor material within the default time period, while a press and holdautomatically triggers a geo-temporal search for material within anextended time period which is longer than the default time period.Instead, or in addition, the search radius may be variable based on thelength of the input interval, with longer input intervals (i.e., alonger hold period) corresponding to a larger search radius.

In use, the map GUI 612 thus surfaces different types of location-basedstories, which the user can view from the map 618. In the exampleembodiment of FIG. 7, the user can access, via the map GUI 612, snapsposted to Our Story from anywhere in the world. This can be achieved bynavigating to different geographical areas displayed within the mapviewport 621. In particular, the displayed geographical area can bechanged by zooming in or zooming out and by moving the focus area of themap viewport 621. In the example embodiment of FIG. 7, in which the mapGUI 612 is provided on a touchscreen 606, zooming in and zooming out canbe achieved by haptic gestures in the form of a pinch-out or a pinch-inhaptic input. Movement of the map 618 within the map viewport 621, so asto change the displayed geographical area, is achieved by a hapticdragging gesture at any point on the map 618.

In this example embodiment, the map 618 is not selectively rotatable bythe user, having a fixed default orientation relative to the touchscreen606. In other embodiments, the map 618 may have a fixed orientationrelative to the Earth. In some embodiments, the map 618 is selectivelyrotatable, e.g., with all map content rotating around a fixed anchor.

As discussed at length above, in any particular map viewport 621, thedisplayed information can include:

-   -   the color-coded heatmap 625, visually displaying the        geographical distribution of snap uploading activity within a        preceding window (for example, the default snap lifetime, which        in this example is 24 hours), allowing the user to readily        identify places with more activity or less activity. This        enables the user to more effectively target location-based        searches via the map GUI 612. In some embodiments, the        color-coded heatmap 625 is shown only at a highest level of        magnification. In this example embodiment, however, the map 618        is rendered at all zoom levels.    -   thumbnail icons 631, 633 for surfaced content forming part of        ephemeral galleries or Stories. As described previously, these        include, in this example embodiment, place icons 631 for        geo-anchored stories associated with particular labeled        locations, and spike icons 633 for location-based stories        surfaced based on anomalous levels of geo-spatial activity.    -   friend bitmojis 640 of friend users most frequently contacted by        the user who is logged into the social media client application        104 executing on the client device 103 (e.g., mobile phone 102)        and by whom the map GUI 612 is generated.

In some embodiments, no spike icons 633 are shown at some levels ofmagnification. In a particular example embodiment, no spike icons 633are shown at the original zoom level at which the map GUI 612 loads bydefault. In such an example, only the heatmap 625, friend bitmojis 640,and a number of place icons 631 are displayed on the map 618 at theoriginal zoom level. As the user zooms in, spike icons 633 are surfaced,representing respective clusters of activity.

It will be appreciated that different icons 631, 633 are surfaced atdifferent zoom levels. In this example embodiment, the map GUI 612displays no more than a predefined maximum number of place icons 631 andno more than a predefined maximum number of spike icons 633 in anyparticular view. For example, at any zoom level, the top three placestories (ranked by snap volume) are surfaced by displaying respectiveplace icons 631 in the map viewport 621. Likewise, at any zoom level,the top three spike stories (ranked by anomaly or unusualness metricvalue) are surfaced by displaying respective spike icons 633 in the mapviewport 621.

In addition to viewing stories surfaced in the map 618 by respectivestory icons 631, 633, the user can use one or more of the searchfunctionalities described above to access any snap uploaded to Our Storyand whose gallery participation timer or availability lifetime has notyet expired.

It will be appreciated that the map GUI 612 is dynamic, in that theinformation displayed therein changes dynamically with time. New snapsmay continually be uploaded to Our Story, while the underlying socialmedia items upon which surfacing of the story icons 631, 633 andgeneration of the heatmap 625 are based may further continually changedue to the expiration of the availability of snaps. In this exampleembodiment, however, the information displayed in the map viewport 621is not dynamically updated during display of any particular geographicalarea. Instead, changing of the focus of the map viewport 621 isassociated with receiving updated information with respect to the storyicons 631, 633 and heatmap 625 from the application server 112.

A benefit of the map GUI 612 as described with the example embodimentsis that it provides for user-friendly and intuitive interaction withgeographically distributed social media content. The provision ofdifferent types of social media galleries (e.g., representedrespectively by spike icons 633 and place icons 631) provides a systemthat automatically surfaces the most relevant content for user-selectionin such a manner that the very large number of individual social mediaitems that may be available via a social media platform is reduced incomplexity and allows selection of targeted content in which the usermight be interested.

The automatic feature scaling system 124 determines whether a feature ofthe GUI 612 is to be operated at a first complexity level or a secondcomplexity level, where the first complexity level is greater than thesecond complexity level. The feature may correspond to a map-based GUI612 of the messaging client application 104. If the feature is tooperate at the first complexity level (e.g., because the automaticfeature scaling system 124 determines that the client properties and/oruser information 221 do satisfy and match the expression in acorresponding configuration rule), as shown in the GUI 612 (FIG. 7), theclient device 102 provides avatars of each user, as represented in FIG.7. As another example, if the feature is to operate at the firstcomplexity level, one or more of the functions (e.g., zooming in/out ofthe map) of the map GUI 612 are provided. If the feature is to operateat the second complexity level, one or more of the functions (e.g.,zooming in/out of the map) of the map GUI 612 are excluded or operatedat a slower pace.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the map GUI 612 in which the feature is tooperate at the second complexity level where the avatars are replaced bytextual representations 644 of the users. Textual representations 644consume far less resources than avatars and serve the same purpose. Assuch, operating the map GUI 612 at the second complexity level providesthe user with the same information, albeit with a different experience,as operating the map GUI 612 at the first complexity level. Because thesecond complexity level consumes fewer resources, the user can stillenjoy the functionality of the map GUI 612 without having performance ofthe client device 102 degraded and without negatively influencingoperations of other applications running on the client device 102.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture906, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 9 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture, and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 906 may execute on hardwaresuch as a machine 1000 of FIG. 10 that includes, among other things,processors 1004, memory 1006, and input/output (I/O) components 1018. Arepresentative hardware layer 952 is illustrated and can represent, forexample, the machine 1000 of FIG. 10. The representative hardware layer952 includes a processing unit 954 having associated executableinstructions 904. The executable instructions 904 represent theexecutable instructions of the software architecture 906, includingimplementation of the methods, components, and so forth describedherein. The hardware layer 952 also includes memory and/or storagemodules memory/storage 956, which also have the executable instructions904. The hardware layer 952 may also comprise other hardware 958.

In the example architecture of FIG. 9, the software architecture 906 maybe conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 906 mayinclude layers such as an operating system 902, libraries 920,frameworks/middleware 918, applications 916, and a presentation layer914. Operationally, the applications 916 and/or other components withinthe layers may invoke API calls 908 through the software stack andreceive messages 912 in response to the API calls 908. The layersillustrated are representative in nature, and not all softwarearchitectures have all layers. For example, some mobile orspecial-purpose operating systems may not provide aframeworks/middleware 918, while others may provide such a layer. Othersoftware architectures may include additional or different layers.

The operating system 902 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 902 may include, for example, akernel 922, services 924, and drivers 926. The kernel 922 may act as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 922 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 924 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 926 areresponsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware.For instance, the drivers 926 include display drivers, camera drivers,Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth, depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 920 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 916 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries920 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than by interfacing directly with theunderlying operating system 902 functionality (e.g., kernel 922,services 924, and/or drivers 926). The libraries 920 may include systemlibraries 944 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions suchas memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions,mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 920 mayinclude API libraries 946 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries tosupport presentation and manipulation of various media formats such asMPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., anOpenGL framework that may be used to render two-dimensional andthree-dimensional graphic content on a display), database libraries(e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions),web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsingfunctionality), and the like. The libraries 920 may also include a widevariety of other libraries 948 to provide many other APIs to theapplications 916 and other software components/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 918 (also sometimes referred to as middleware)provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by theapplications 916 and/or other software components/modules. For example,the frameworks/middleware 918 may provide various graphic UI (GUI)functions, high-level resource management, high-level location services,and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 918 may provide a broad spectrumof other APIs that may be utilized by the applications 916 and/or othersoftware components/modules, some of which may be specific to aparticular operating system 902 or platform.

The applications 916 include built-in applications 938 and/orthird-party applications 940. Examples of representative built-inapplications 938 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, a media application, a messaging application,and/or a game application. The third-party applications 940 may includean application developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 940 may invoke the API calls 908 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as the operating system 902) tofacilitate functionality described herein.

The applications 916 may use built-in operating system functions (e.g.,kernel 922, services 924, and/or drivers 926), libraries 920, andframeworks/middleware 918 to create UIs to interact with users of thesystem. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems, interactionswith a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as thepresentation layer 914. In these systems, the application/component“logic” can be separated from the aspects of the application/componentthat interact with a user.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 1000,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine1000 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions1010 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 1000 to perform any oneor more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such,the instructions 1010 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 1010 transform the general,non-programmed machine 1000 into a particular machine 1000 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 1000 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 1000 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 1000 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 1010, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by the machine 1000. Further, while only a single machine 1000 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 1000 may include processors 1004, memory/storage 1006, andI/O components 1018, which may be configured to communicate with eachother such as via a bus 1002. In an example embodiment, the processors1004 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), aradio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or anysuitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 1008and a processor 1012 that may execute the instructions 1010. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 1004 that maycomprise two or more independent processors 1008 (sometimes referred toas “cores”) that may execute instructions 1010 contemporaneously.Although FIG. 10 shows multiple processors 1004, the machine 1000 mayinclude a single processor 1008 with a single core, a single processor1008 with multiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor), multipleprocessors 1004 with a single core, multiple processors 1004 withmultiple cores, or any combination thereof.

The memory/storage 1006 may include a memory 1014, such as a mainmemory, or other memory storage, and a storage unit 1016, bothaccessible to the processors 1004 such as via the bus 1002. The storageunit 1016 and memory 1014 store the instructions 1010 embodying any oneor more of the methodologies or functions described herein. Theinstructions 1010 may also reside, completely or partially, within thememory 1014, within the storage unit 1016, within at least one of theprocessors 1004 (e.g., within the processor 1008's cache memory), or anysuitable combination thereof, during execution thereof by the machine1000. Accordingly, the memory 1014, the storage unit 1016, and thememory of the processors 1004 are examples of machine-readable media.

The I/O components 1018 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1018 that are included in a particular machine 1000 willdepend on the type of machine 1000. For example, portable machines suchas mobile phones will likely include a touch input device or other suchinput mechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely notinclude such a touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/Ocomponents 1018 may include many other components that are not shown inFIG. 10. The I/O components 1018 are grouped according to functionalitymerely for simplifying the following discussion, and the grouping is inno way limiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 1018may include output components 1026 and input components 1028. The outputcomponents 1026 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 1028 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstruments), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures,or other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 1018 may includebiometric components 1039, motion components 1034, environmentalcomponents 1036, or position components 1038 among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 1039 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., by voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram-basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 1034 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 1036 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gassensors to detect concentrations of hazardous gases for safety or tomeasure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other components that mayprovide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding to asurrounding physical environment. The position components 1038 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a GPS receiver component),altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detectair pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensorcomponents (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1018 may include communication components 1040operable to couple the machine 1000 to a network 1037 or devices 1029via a coupling 1024 and a coupling 1022, respectively. For example, thecommunication components 1040 may include a network interface componentor other suitable device to interface with the network 1037. In furtherexamples, the communication components 1040 may include wiredcommunication components, wireless communication components, cellularcommunication components, near field communication (NFC) components,Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components to provide communication via othermodalities. The devices 1029 may be another machine or any of a widevariety of peripheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via aUSB).

Moreover, the communication components 1040 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 1040 may include radio frequency identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components1040, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting an NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary:

“CARRIER SIGNAL,” in this context, refers to any intangible medium thatis capable of storing, encoding, or carrying transitory ornon-transitory instructions 1010 for execution by the machine 1000, andincludes digital or analog communications signals or other intangiblemedia to facilitate communication of such instructions 1010.Instructions 1010 may be transmitted or received over the network 1037using a transitory or non-transitory transmission medium via a networkinterface device and using any one of a number of well-known transferprotocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE,” in this context, refers to any machine 1000 thatinterfaces to a communications network 1037 to obtain resources from oneor more server systems or other client devices 102. A client device 102may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop,PDA, smart phone, tablet, ultra book, netbook, laptop, multi-processorsystem, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronicssystem, game console, set-top box, or any other communication devicethat a user may use to access a network 1037.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK,” in this context, refers to one or moreportions of a network 1037 that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet,an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network(LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN(WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion ofthe Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN),a plain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network1037 or a portion of a network may include a wireless or cellularnetwork and the coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)connection, a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection,or another type of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, thecoupling may implement any of a variety of types of data transfertechnology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology(1xRTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, General PacketRadio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including3G, fourth generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA),Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long-TermEvolution (LTE) standard, others defined by various standard-settingorganizations, other long-range protocols, or other data transfertechnology.

“EPHEMERAL MESSAGE,” in this context, refers to a message 300 that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video, and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message 300 is transitory.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM,” in this context, refers to a component, adevice, or other tangible media able to store instructions 1010 and datatemporarily or permanently and may include, but is not limited to,random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flashmemory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types ofstorage (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM)), and/orany suitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions 1010. The term “machine-readable medium”shall also be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiplemedia, that is capable of storing instructions 1010 (e.g., code) forexecution by a machine 1000, such that the instructions 1010, whenexecuted by one or more processors 1004 of the machine 1000, cause themachine 1000 to perform any one or more of the methodologies describedherein. Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium” refers to a singlestorage apparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based” storage systems orstorage networks that include multiple storage apparatus or devices. Theterm “machine-readable medium” excludes signals per se.

“COMPONENT,” in this context, refers to a device, physical entity, orlogic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, APIs, or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions. Componentsmay constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on amachine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component”is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computersystem, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one ormore hardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or agroup of processors 1004) may be configured by software (e.g., anapplication or application portion) as a hardware component thatoperates to perform certain operations as described herein.

A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardwarecomponent may be a special-purpose processor, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an ASIC. A hardware componentmay also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarilyconfigured by software to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware component may include software executed by a general-purposeprocessor 1004 or other programmable processor. Once configured by suchsoftware, hardware components become specific machines (or specificcomponents of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configuredfunctions and are no longer general-purpose processors 1004. It will beappreciated that the decision to implement a hardware componentmechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase“hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) should beunderstood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that isphysically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), ortemporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manneror to perform certain operations described herein. Consideringembodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured(e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not beconfigured or instantiated at any one instant in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processor 1008configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor 1008 may be configured as respectivelydifferent special-purpose processors (e.g., comprising differenthardware components) at different times. Software accordingly configuresa particular processor or processors 1004, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware component at one instant of time and to constitute adifferent hardware component at a different instant of time.

Hardware components can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inembodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output.

Hardware components may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors 1004that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanentlyconfigured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily orpermanently configured, such processors may constituteprocessor-implemented components that operate to perform one or moreoperations or functions described herein. As used herein,“processor-implemented component” refers to a hardware componentimplemented using one or more processors 1004. Similarly, the methodsdescribed herein may be at least partially processor-implemented, with aparticular processor or processors 1004 being an example of hardware.For example, at least some of the operations of a method may beperformed by one or more processors 1004 or processor-implementedcomponents. Moreover, the one or more processors 1004 may also operateto support performance of the relevant operations in a “cloud computing”environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS). For example, atleast some of the operations may be performed by a group of computers(as examples of machines 1000 including processors 1004), with theseoperations being accessible via a network 1037 (e.g., the Internet) andvia one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API). The performanceof certain of the operations may be distributed among the processors1004, not only residing within a single machine 1000, but deployedacross a number of machines 1000. In some example embodiments, theprocessors 1004 or processor-implemented components may be located in asingle geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an officeenvironment, or a server farm). In other example embodiments, theprocessors 1004 or processor-implemented components may be distributedacross a number of geographic locations.

“PROCESSOR,” in this context, refers to any circuit or virtual circuit(a physical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor1008) that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands,” “op codes,” “machine code,” etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine 1000.A processor 1008 may, for example, be a CPU, a RISC processor, a CISCprocessor, a GPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a RFIC, or any combination thereof. Aprocessor 1008 may further be a multi-core processor having two or moreindependent processors 1008 (sometimes referred to as “cores”) that mayexecute instructions 1010 contemporaneously.

“TIME STAMP,” in this context, refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These andother changes or modifications are intended to be included within thescope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: providing, to a clientdevice, a messaging application comprising a feature, the feature beingimplemented by one or more operations having a plurality of alternativecomplexity levels, the feature comprising a map-based graphical userinterface, a first set of operations of a first complexity level of theplurality of alternative complexity levels corresponding to avatarrepresentations of users on the map-based graphical user interface, anda second set of operations of a second complexity level of the pluralityof alternative complexity levels corresponding to textualrepresentations of the users on the map-based graphical user interface;accessing, by one or more processors, a first configuration rule of aplurality of configuration rules that associates a first device propertyrule with the feature of the messaging application; determining, by theone or more processors, that the first configuration rule is satisfiedby a first property of the client device; and in response to determiningthat the first configuration rule is satisfied by the first property ofthe client device, causing, by the one or more processors, the featureto be implemented on the client device by the first set of operations ofthe first complexity level.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstcomplexity level represents a first amount of device resources consumedby the first set of the one or more operations that implement thefeature, and wherein the second complexity level of the plurality ofalternative complexity levels represents a second amount of deviceresources consumed by the second set of the one or more operations thatimplement the feature.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the firstdevice property rule comprises a location of a device rule, and whereinthe feature is a first feature, further comprising accessing a secondconfiguration rule of a plurality of configuration rules that associatesa combination of a second device property rule and a user property rulewith a second feature of the messaging application.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, further comprising: determining that a second property of theclient device and a user property of a user of the client device failsto match the combination of the second device property rule and the userproperty rule associated with the second configuration rule; and inresponse to determining that the second property of the client deviceand the user property of the user of the client device fails to matchthe combination of the second device property rule and the user propertyrule associated with the second configuration rule, scaling down thesecond feature to cause the second feature to be implemented on theclient device by a third set of the one or more operations.
 5. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising determining that that the firstconfiguration rule is satisfied in response to determining that abenchmark performance metric associated with the client devicecorresponds to a specified benchmark performance metric associated withthe first configuration rule.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst configuration rule includes an expression with a first portionassociated with the first device property rule and a second portionassociated with a second device property rule, wherein the first portionis evaluated by a server and the second portion is evaluated by theclient device.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first portion isevaluated by: retrieving the first property of the client device from astorage device on a server; and comparing the retrieved first propertyto the first device property rule in the first portion.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the second portion is evaluated by the client device inresponse to determining that the first property matches the first deviceproperty rule, and wherein the second portion is evaluated by:transmitting the second portion to the client device; and causing theclient device to: determine the second property of the client device;and compare the second property of the client device to the seconddevice property rule in the second portion.
 9. The method of claim 1,wherein the second complexity level is selected by default when themessaging application is provided to the client device.
 10. The methodof claim 1, wherein the messaging application comprises a second featurecomprising a facial recognition function that analyzes faces in an imagecaptured by the client device.
 11. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: retrieving information indicating a performance metric ofthe facial recognition function; determining that the performance metricexceeds a minimum performance threshold indicated by the first deviceproperty rule; and in response to determining that the performancemetric exceeds the minimum performance threshold indicated by the firstdevice property rule, selecting a first facial recognition process forimplementing the facial recognition function.
 12. The method of claim11, further comprising in response to determining that the performancemetric fails to exceed the minimum performance threshold indicated bythe first device property rule, selecting a second facial recognitionprocess for implementing the facial recognition function.
 13. The methodof claim 1, wherein the first configuration rule is selected from theplurality of configuration rules based on a rank associated with each ofthe plurality of configuration rules.
 14. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: retrieving a benchmark representing behavior of the firstand second complexity levels; computing a benchmark performance metricassociated with running the benchmark on the client device; andcomparing the computed benchmark performance metric to a specifiedbenchmark performance metric indicated by the first device property ruleassociated with the first configuration rule.
 15. The method of claim 1,wherein the messaging application comprises a second feature comprisingan augmented reality experience in which a graphical element functionmodifies an image captured by the client device using one or moregraphical elements, further comprising: retrieving informationindicating availability of a frame fetch buffer on the client device;determining that the frame fetch buffer is available on the clientdevice; and in response to determining that the frame fetch buffer isavailable on the client device, selecting a first set of graphicalelements for implementing the graphical element function.
 16. The methodof claim 1, wherein the messaging application comprises a second featurecomprising encryption, and wherein the second feature is implemented bya third set of operations having a third complexity level correspondingto a first encryption process that is more secure than a secondencryption process corresponding to a fourth second set of operationshaving a fourth complexity level.
 17. A system comprising: one or moreprocessors configured to perform operations comprising: providing, to aclient device, a messaging application comprising a feature, the featurebeing implemented by one or more operations having a plurality ofalternative complexity levels, the feature comprising a map-basedgraphical user interface, a first set of operations of a firstcomplexity level of the plurality of alternative complexity levelscorresponding to avatar representations of users on the map-basedgraphical user interface, and a second set of operations of a secondcomplexity level of the plurality of alternative complexity levelscorresponding to textual representations of the users on the map-basedgraphical user interface; accessing, by one or more processors, a firstconfiguration rule of a plurality of configuration rules that associatesa first device property rule with the feature of the messagingapplication; determining, by the one or more processors, that the firstconfiguration rule is satisfied by a first property of the clientdevice; and in response to determining that the first configuration ruleis satisfied by the first property of the client device, causing, by theone or more processors, the feature to be implemented on the clientdevice by the first set of operations of the first complexity level. 18.The system of claim 17, wherein the first complexity level represents afirst amount of device resources consumed by the first set of the one ormore operations that implement the feature, and wherein the secondcomplexity level of the plurality of alternative complexity levelsrepresents a second amount of device resources consumed by the secondset of the one or more operations that implement the feature.
 19. Thesystem of claim 17, wherein the first device property rule comprises alocation of a device rule, and wherein the feature is a first feature,further comprising accessing a second configuration rule of a pluralityof configuration rules that associates a combination of a second deviceproperty rule and a user property rule with a second feature of themessaging application.
 20. A non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium that includes instructions that, when executed by one or moreprocessors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operationscomprising: providing, to a client device, a messaging applicationcomprising a feature, the feature being implemented by one or moreoperations having a plurality of alternative complexity levels, thefeature comprising a map-based graphical user interface, a first set ofoperations of a first complexity level of the plurality of alternativecomplexity levels corresponding to avatar representations of users onthe map-based graphical user interface, and a second set of operationsof a second complexity level of the plurality of alternative complexitylevels corresponding to textual representations of the users on themap-based graphical user interface; accessing, by one or moreprocessors, a first configuration rule of a plurality of configurationrules that associates a first device property rule with the feature ofthe messaging application; determining, by the one or more processors,that the first configuration rule is satisfied by a first property ofthe client device; and in response to determining that the firstconfiguration rule is satisfied by the first property of the clientdevice, causing, by the one or more processors, the feature to beimplemented on the client device by the first set of operations of thefirst complexity level.